currently feeling supremely average after being awake for about 30 hours to undertake one last techno roadtrip to london for the plex party yesterday. great night, as expected. function and sandwell were in full flight (no surprises), TVO was very good (but i missed most of his set), and forward strategy group delivered some serious techno (watch our for these guys). one big complaint is that because of scheduling i only got to see about 15 minutes of peverelist. it was an excellent 15 minutes, but i wanted to see a lot more...
this was my last night out in the UK before i relocate permanently to tokyo next month. i havent had an easy relationship with this country, but i must say, i have really enjoyed the parties i've been able to go to, and i'd like to thank all the people in london (and beyond) for being so open and friendly. i was lucky to meet quite a lot of ssg readers on the dancefloors at corsica (mainly) and your kind words were greatly appreciated, and it has been great getting to find out that unsurprisingly our readers are a bunch of quality people. so thanks to everyone in london and the rest of the UK for being so supportive and friendly during my time. to be honest, there is plenty i dislike about this country, but as far as my musical experiences go, they've all been very positive and i dont have much bad to say. it makes me happy to see some really strong scenes of quality artists/promoters/clubs/crowds emerging here. keep it up. respect!
(ps -for those who arent aware yet, the next bleep43 party in april has dozzy AND mika vainio. BOOM!)
yeah it was an absolutely sick night. didnt speak to you but would have given many kind words if I had. cheers for letting me know it was on anyway and good luck in Tokyo!
ReplyDeletelooks like we both saw some great music last night :-)
ReplyDeleteseth troxler made his first legit appearance in chicago and i was thoroughly impressed. he played an inspired, high-intensity set at smartbar (ending on the gorgeous new nicholas jaar w+l track 'time for us), then spinned for hours at the afters, keeping his set full of pitched-down grooves. i had to pull myself away after more than 6 hours of that and he didn't seem to be letting up at all when i left.
he has instantly jumped to the top of my 'best dj's' list. he's only 24, but his 10 years of dj'ing really shows through; his mixing was consistently perfect, with plenty of long smooth blends. it was almost shocking how good he is...
Dozz + Mika Vainio = ridiculousness!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI need a dokodemo door. We all need dokodemo doors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doraemon%27s_D%C5%8Dgu
I had such a good night. Function killed it, just what I was looking for. Loved everybody that played and the crowd was on top form too. Plex put on a blinder.
ReplyDelete@ chris. Was great to meet you
Think the open ended 'plenty i don't like about this country' comments are a bit weird. Thanks for that.
ReplyDelete@ james: pleasure meeting you too. always nice to share such awesome music!
ReplyDelete@ sam: yeah, fair enough... i've had a very difficult time in the UK, and for many reasons, much of my stay here has not been very happy. this is a music blog, but it is also one that reflects our feelings and perceptions (regardless of whether they are fair and accurate, or not). there is obviously plenty of things that are great about the UK, and as i said, i've met a lot of people here who have been friendly and kind to me, but on the whole, this is a country i've struggled with. i would also say that i'd make similar comments about my home country, australia, my new country, japan, and most other places...
anyway, sorry i framed it wrong, i wanted to focus on thanking all the people i met and the positive experiences i had in the UK.
Yeah, I too found the unqualified criticism of the UK comment problematic, unsatisfying more than anything. This might not be the most suitable spot for this, but would you mind elaborating?
ReplyDeleteI'm not British but lived there for a while, and like you Chris I have mixed feelings for the place. Musically, its pretty hard to beat, and not just for electronic music (which is much better served by Germany and other European cities I'm sure) but for most forms of music. Culturally too - visual art, cinema, theatre, literature - it's pretty impressive. Having moved to Melbourne that's a side of life I sorely miss.
But its incredibly expensive, and there's a definite grimness, certainly in London, that wears one down. Class system still impacts upon many things, bad schools, dreadful food, shitty chains stores everywhere. I'm in my thirties now and such things meant less to me when younger but now I find it opressive.
That said, my overriding feeling for the place is one of love, for all the good and bad aspects. It embraces its faults with a 'stiff upper lip' attitude that can be annoying but is generally endearing. Can't speak for Wales, went only to Cardiff and loathed it, but London totally claimed my heart, for all its awfulness and difficulty. You just need to be very rich to live there.
Keen on seeing how the site changes from a Japan base. This should be an interesting development. Thanks and keep up the great work
@ joshua: i wrote that post after being up for about 30 hours and not being able to sleep properly because of one too many red bulls. i was not as careful as i should have been with my wording in the post. i am tempted to remove that line from the post, because the primary intent of the post was to basically say i've had a really rough time in this country, but one positive have been the parties and people in london, and i am appreciative for that. i do have issues with this country, but i dont want to get into them here, because this post was supposed to be positive, and i dont want to fuck that up anymore than i already have!
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris, fair enough. Hope my two cents wasn't unwelcome. Best of luck on the move
ReplyDelete@ joshua: comments most welcome. that comment wasn't appropriate, i deserve to be taken to task for it.
ReplyDeleteCame across this from a ref on Twitter. Music aside, i was very impressed that you chose to use a Whistler as the illustration. I attended the Turner/Whistler/Monet exhibition - concerning the Thames - at Tate Britain a few years ago and was enlighjtened to see there was more to him than polaroids of his old dear.
ReplyDelete@ lovesong: i find some of whistler's paintings (like this one) really amazing. probably my favourite british painter.
ReplyDeleteif you are interested in the connection between music and art, check this discussion, which links burial's music up to artists including whistler:
http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/12/premature-burial-burial-pallbearer-vs.html
Sorry I didn't manage to bump into you Chris - was in headless chicken mode for most of the night! No idea what you look like either so needed to be grabbed..
ReplyDeleteHow did you manage to miss both Peverelist and TVO? Were you outside?
Recordings should be going up as and when we get permission..
Here's a wee video of FSG to keep you ticking over: http://www.vimeo.com/9304948
@ tom: thanks, sorry i tried to find you too without luck. i didnt go very well with meeting people on friday...
ReplyDeletei caught the start of TVO, then went outside and starting talking to FSG, then got a bit of peverelist and wanted more, but FSG was on. my one major complaint is that there was too much good music! which left no time for rest and talking shit. but i guess that is a problem worth having.
congrats on a successful event.
Hey Chris, I too was quite struck by the particular image you used on this entry. do you know the title of the particular piece?
ReplyDeleteGood luck in Tokyo - maybe we will crash into each other there sometime.
Keep up the ssg'ing, its really worthwhile. :)
@Tom,
ReplyDeleteJust gone through your Vimeo videos, Seems I was at most of the nights your filmed. Bleep43, Bloc, X102, the last Plex and Wang. I now realise why I got tinnitus at Plaid. Excellent quality on the Corsica ones btw
J